December 22, 2000Reliable Bookbinders expands into the U.S.TORONTO  Reliable Bookbinders Ltd. has opened two new plants in the U.S. R. David Johnson, president and owner, said the plantsboth opened Sept. 1are located in Rochester, N.Y. and Jackson, Mich. The Rochester plant, which is known as Apex Graphic Finishing, is a 25,000 sq.ft. facility. The Jackson site, which is known as Reliable Graphic Finishing, is a 30,000 sq.ft. plant. Both employ about 20 U.S. citizens. The Rochester plant will handle mechanical binding, while the Michigan plant has perfect binding. All equipment is from Heidelberg. Johnson says the Toronto plants expertise is perfect binding, polybagging and mailing and inkjetting. So instead of recreating the wheel at each of the plants, that will be the strength of the Toronto plant. And the two US plants will feed the Toronto plant. Both operations will function independently and all three now come under The Reliable Group. Johnson would not disclose the cost of the expansion or projected revenues.

Transcon beats its rival Quebecorby $2.5 millionMONTREAL  A survey of financial results of all publicly owned Canadian printing companies that file regular quarterly revenue reports showed that Transcontinental Printing pulled ahead of rival Quebecor World in Q3. The survey covered the first three quarters of 2000. Transcontinentals revenues jumped from $312.1 million in Q2 to $375.9 million in Q3. Quebecor Worlds Q3 results were $373.4 million down from $383.4 million in Q2.

December 20, 2000Short-run printer now produces booksCALGARY  Two Printers Inc. opened a new division called Blitzprint this month. Kevin Lanuke, president and CEO, says we researched and developed the idea of printing on-demand for the [book] publishing industry...Then we put the machinery in and now were printing books. Two Printers is a 10-year-old short-run, full-colour commercial outfit. Lanuke says they formed Blitzprint a year ago and then installed a Xerox Digipath Book Factory three months ago. It prints black and white, but will be upgraded to colour. Blitzprint has two employees, while Two Printers has 15 with sales of $1.5 million. Lanuke says theyre targeting self-publishers, authors and publishers. We want to be able to work with...all of these different people who need to get their books printed but they cant really do it because the traditional offset process is too expensive, he says.

December 15, 2000Coast Paper up for saleVANCOUVER  Canadas largest independent paper distributor is up for sale. President Mike Kearney says the sale of Coast Paper was announced in November. The reason for selling, he adds, is a combination of strong Coast Paper performance, long-term growth prospects for the company and [the owners] personal estate planning. The owners, the Garnett family, are now in their 60s. Contrary to other published reports, the sale is not related to the death of former president and chairman, Bruce Brydon. He passed away in early November. Coast Paper is 60 years old and has over 300 employees. Kearney says the Garnett family listed the company up for sale in late 1995, but because pulp and paper prices dropped in early 1996, they took the company off the market. An industry source, however, said an offer was made but fell through and a second offer didnt quite measure up.Bowne and Kromar behind the pieces that wonTORONTO  Telecommunications company, Telus, won silver, and ClearnetTeluss recent acquisitionwon gold at the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and National Post annual report awards. The printers behind the reports were Bowne and Kromar Printing.

December 12, 2000More on the Cameron and MacNab dealNEW GLASGOW, N.S.  Cameron Publications Ltd. has officially acquired William MacNab and Son Ltd. Terry Mounce, vice president and general manager at Cameron said yesterday the deal closed Nov. 30. MacNab was founded in 1863, has about 25 employees and is a high-end commercial sheetfed printer. The former owners, Kevin Awalt and Greg Brunt, will stay on as senior management. MacNab has revenues of between $3 million and $5 million. Mounce said the acquisition was desirable because of the high-end sheetfed capabilities. Cameron is also installing a new six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster in MacNabs facility. Its going to be a totally different company with the addition of this new press, he says. Were entering a new market with what we can do and what we will do and all the rest of it is unknown at this point. Cameron Publications has three locations besides the headquarters in New Glasgow: Kentville Publishing in New Minas, N.S.; Fundy Group Publications in Yarmouth, N.S.; and Cameron Publications in Bidderford, Maine. The company is a web printer, but does sheetfed work at its New Minas plant. There are about 250 employees.

Michael Hill is moving onTORONTO  December 29 is officially Michael Hills last day as senior vice president business development group at Transcontinental Printing. The 51-year-old is leaving after 8.5 years to establish his own business in the graphic arts industry. I basically decided after 8.5 years with Transcontinentaland Transcontinental has been going through some organizational changesthat Ive had a good time here. Ive run most of the businesses in Ontario and a number of the businesses in Quebec, he says. I thought why not look at doing something where I have a chance to have equity in the company and a little more say in its direction before I get too old and I have to retire.

December 8, 2000Canadian company to begin selling pressSAINT-LAURENT, Que.  Elcorsy Technology Inc., inventors of Elcography printing, have received the funding to begin selling presses and to finance installations. Pierre Castegnier, vice president of marketing, says SGF (Société générale de financement du Québec) Rexfor Inc. invested $7.5 million in equity this week. The press, which is called the Elco400, prints in four colours at 400 feet per minute and sells for US$2 million. It prints directly on paper without film or plates and images data from a computer in real-time.

CPIA president takes on new postOTTAWA  After five years as president of the CPIA, Michael Makin has been appointed COO of the PIA (Printing Industries of America). Makin says he was notified in mid-November and expects to hire a replacement by Jan. 8. His new appointment will take effect Jan. 15 and Makin will be relocating to the U.S. My career at the CPIA has been really the penultimate in my association management career, he said yesterday. I have really enjoyed every aspect of it.Gandalf acquires AdanacTORONTO  Gandalf Graphics Ltd. acquired Adanac Graphics in September. According to Gandalf president, Larry Downey, the two companies have had a business relationship for the last 20 years. Adanacs 30 staff and equipment will continue to operate out of the Scarborough, Ont. site. Combined, the companies have revenues of $25 million. Gandalf acquired The Bryant Press Ltd., a book manufacturer and large-format printer, in late July.

December 1, 2000Cameron Publications to acquire MacNab PrintDARTMOUTH, N.S.  Cameron Publications, a web printer, is to acquire MacNab Print, a sheetfed printer. The deal is to be announced today. According to a source at Cameron Publications, the web printer wanted a state of the art sheetfed facility and wanted to expand. Cameron prints bi-weeklies and weeklies and has offices in Kentville and Yarmouth. MacNab has sales of about $4 million.Lowe-Martin to print stampsOTTAWA  According to an industry source, the Lowe Martin Group is preparing to print stamps for Canada Post. The source said RCMP officials are already setting up security measures at the shop, but no word yet when printing is slated to begin.
PaperCom says paper consumption on the riseWASHINGTON  A study from the PaperCom Alliance International says worldwide paper consumption is increasingmostly as a result of the Internet. The study reports, after examining 93 countries, a 5.3% increase in paper use for 1999 for all communication papers making for a six-year increase of 25.9%. PaperCom members include companies and associations from the paper-based communications industry. The increase can be attributed to desktop printing of Web-based information and e-commerce companies using direct mail, catalogues and print advertising. There are four PaperCom Alliances; one is headquartered in Toronto.